Road Scenes: May 30,2011

Seen this morning, a group of men sitting on the pavement off the cloverleaf intersection of Fahaheel Expressway and 5th Ring Road in Jabriya

Early morning picnic along the highway?

Seen this afternoon on the way home

The texts on the rear door read "TO EXTERNAL REQUEST"..whatever that means.

Get Ready: NBA Finals 2011

The Dawning of a New Era in NBA Basketball

Only 7 teams had taken turns in winning the NBA championship in the last 20 years (1990-2010), led by Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls with 6 titles in 6 Finals appearances from 1991-1993 and 1996-1998.

They are followed by the LA Lakers with 5 titles out of 8 trips (the most Finals appearance by any team in the last 20 years). They won their three-peat with Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal and Phil Jackson in 2000,2001 and 2002 and just recently in 2009 and 2010, but without Shaq in the mix.

The San Antonio Spurs and Tim Duncan are next with 4 titles in 4 attempts (1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007).

Hakeem Olajuwon's Houston Rockets won back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995. But they never flourished as a dynasty like one would expect them to be.

In between the dominance of the above teams, three other teams won the title once.

Underrated Detroit Pistons, composed mostly of role players and  underachievers, won the title in 2004 against an All- Star Lakers team with Shaq, Kobe, Karl Malone and Gary Payton. After the title, the Pistons continued to be a tough playoff matchup to anyone but never reached the Finals again.

Shaq joined the Miami Heat and helped Dwyane Wade win their first ever trip to the Finals in 2006 against another Finals first timer Dallas Mavericks. Since the title, the Heat failed to maintain the momentum, slowed down by various roster shakeups and injuries to their key players.

The Boston Celtics formed a new Big Three in Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett and won their newest match-up with their old rival, the Lakers in 2008. They continued to figure as the team to beat in the East, reaching the Conference Finals against eventual winner Orlando Magic in 2009 and losing their Finals rematch with the Lakers last season.

From the seven champions of the last 20 years, the Rockets and Pistons faded in recent years, suffering an almost similar fate- once powerhouse teams now almost dissolved into oblivion.

Of the remaining five, only the Bulls and the Heat are still in the running in the current NBA playoffs.

In the West, No. 1 seed Spurs lost its first round matchup with no. 8 Memphis Grizzlies while Phil Jackson, Bryant and the Lakers' attempt of another three-peat ended with a loud thud when they were swept by Dirk Nowitski and the Dallas Mavericks in their semi-final series.

With the exit of the Spurs and Lakers, the West paved the way for the emergence of a new breed of heroes in Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant and Memphis' Zach Randolph. Already, their series has the making of a playoff classic, with one game decided in an epic triple overtime. And last night, the Grizzlies beat the Thunders to  force a win-or-go home Game 7 this Sunday. The Mavs are eagerly waiting for the outcome of that series as they also want to claim their right to be considered one of the league's elite.

The East is even more interesting. Over the course of last year's offseason, the most sought after free-agent class of LeBron James, Wade and Chris Bosh joined forces in Miami to form a super-team with a common goal in mind- to get some measure of revenge from the Celtics, win the East and ultimately, win a championship or two, especially for James. They've already accomplished their first goal as they emphatically closed out the Celtics, 4 games to 1, in their second round series. Now, fans and haters alike will wait and see if there will be another championship parade in South Beach in June.

Meanwhile, even with the alignment of stars in Miami, the league saw the resurrection of surprise no. 1 overall, the Chicago Bulls. Led by the youngest league MVP Derrick Rose, the Bulls won their match-up with the stubborn Atlanta Hawks to book their first trip to the Eastern Conference Finals since their glory days with Jordan.

With the departure of legendary teams, we may now be looking into the dawning of a new era in the NBA, where old champions lose and fade away while new and younger teams rise into the spotlight. Gone are the Spurs, the Lakers and the Celtics, the teams that virtually have owned the stage for quite some time..Maybe gone for now, but surely they will be back- maybe younger.

maybe even stronger..

Aside from those teams, we may also be bidding farewell to individuals who have shaped the NBA playoffs picture.

Names like Shaquille O'Neal who's not even in uniform in what maybe the last game of his career.

Phil Jackson,who might have called his last game,sadly in the worst possible way, with the Lakers.

Kobe, Garnett, Duncan, Pierce- they are all in the waning years of their careers. But the call of winning at least one more championship before they hang their jerseys is just too loud to ignore. I give them two, maybe three more seasons and they will be gone too.

Yet, the torch must've been passed already to the new generations. Much like how Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird passed it over to Jordan and company.

Yes, there may still be some familiar faces and names around but slowly, the future is taking shape...the future is now and it becomes as exciting as ever.

(Original article by Cy P. Mercado, with external references as linked)

Happy Mother's Day Mommy...We Love You...(FUNNY)

Watch as our two little girls, Cianna and Zoe, prepare to make a video greeting for Mommy for Mother's Day..Funny and yet a very endearing video with Cianna still with her chicken pox and Zoe just being Zoe trying their best to make Mommy feel special this day.

and yes, Mommy was very very happy with the girl's effort :)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL MOMMIES OUT THERE!

SEEN: Obama Arrested?

UP NEXT: ARRESTED
Screen capture today (May 6) from TV Patrol, a Philippine News Program (ABS-CBN). 

Whoever it is controlling the graphics must be busy wondering " Where are the photos from the Bin Laden raid?!"

But this one's a major FAIL!

Cianna and her Itchy Bitsy Polka Dot Skinny

Our daughter, Cianna, is down with chicken pox, my poor girl. Most probably she got it from school because right now,at least four of her classmates also got infected. Fortunately it was the last 2 weeks of school already and at least she was able to take all her Final Exams..I guess it's the season of the disease here in Kuwait..

Now we're worried about our other daughter, Zoe, she's been exposed already so no use to get her vaccinated...She will surely get it, we just have wait and see when...maybe sooner or later.

Day One with Chicken Pox

External References:

Chicken Pox- Pub Med Health
Chicken Pox- Wikipedia